


Ice and Magic

by StereoChromatic



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Christmas, David Acting as Max's Parental Figure | Dadvid (Camp Camp), Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Ice Skating, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21769843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StereoChromatic/pseuds/StereoChromatic
Summary: Max and his adoptive father David head to a newly opened ice rink in town, where they bump into an old friend.
Relationships: Max & Nerris (Camp Camp)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 67





	Ice and Magic

“What are you doing?” Max asked, as he watched David put his coat on. “Are we going somewhere?”

“We are too! You’ll find out where soon enough.” David replied, as he grabbed Max’s coat.

“Don’t go thinking you can get me to wear that thing.” Max crossed his arms.

“But Max, it’s December, it’s way too cold for regular clothes!” David tried to reason with him. 

“Are we taking the car?” Max asked, snatching his coat from David and putting it on himself.

“You bet we are!” David replied with enthusiasm. The two of them left their house and got in the car. Max noticed a leaflet in the middle seat as he put his seatbelt on, and picked it up as David started the car.

“What is this?” Max looked through it. “An ice skating rink?” 

“Yep. That’s where we’re going!” David replied, as he drove out towards town.

“But why?” Max asked. 

“Well, it opened last week, and since I know you like to dance, I thought, why not take my son ice skating, it’ll be great!” David explained.

“David, I do tap dance, that has nothing to do with ice skating.” Max complained.

“Well it never hurts to learn.” David replied, as they drove on.

“How far is it?” Max asked, not wanting to bear more of David’s enthusiasm.

“Only a few minutes.” David replied. “I’ll put some music on, if you want.” 

“Sure, whatever. As long as it’s not the farmer’s almanac.” Max agreed grudgingly. David turned on the radio. Sleepy Peak Radio was the town’s local station, and today, it was playing Christmas songs, much to Max’s chagrin. He stayed silent for the rest of the journey, until they arrived at a parking spot in town just outside the ice rink. David turned off the engine, and he and Max got out of the car. 

The two of them walked to the front door of the building that held the ice skating rink. The cold air bothered Max to no end, causing him to pull up the hood on his parka. David smiled at him, proud of the fact he was now starting to listen to his good advice. As they walked inside, they made their way to the receptionist. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” the receptionist asked. 

“We’d like to go ice skating.” David replied. 

“Okay. That’s ice skating for two. That will be $25, please.” The receptionist politely demanded. David broke out his wallet and handed her the money.

“Here you go.” 

“Thank you. We can provide skates for use on the rink.” The receptionist said.

“That would be great!” David replied.

“What shoe size do you take?” the receptionist asked.

“Uh.” David checked the underside of his right shoe. “I’m a size 9 and a half.” 

“I’ll get you a size 10 skate, then. And what about him?” The receptionist asked, looking at Max.

“Oh, he’s a size thirteen.” David replied.

“Wait one moment.” The receptionist told him, as she brought out two skates and put them on the counter.

“Your shoes please.” The receptionist asked. Max took off his shoes and handed them to the receptionist, as David did the same. They put on their ice skates, and made sure they fit, before they clumsily walked to the edge of the ice rink. Max felt slightly stupid as he walked.

“This is dumb.” Max complained.

“It’ll be fine once we get to the rink, I promise.” David encouraged. 

“Trust me, it won’t.” Max retorted, imagining himself falling over on the ice. Reaching the open gate, Max took his first steps on the ice. A couple of steps in and he promptly lost his footing, sprawling onto the ice. 

“Dammit.” Max cursed, as he picked himself up. David skated over to him.

“Are you okay?”

“How the hell are you supposed to move on these things anyway?” Max asked.

“Well, for starters, you push out like this.” David demonstrated as he skated forwards. “Once you have enough momentum, it gets easier.” Max tried to copy what David had done. It was shaky going at first, but he hadn’t fallen over, so something must be working. Suddenly, a flash of purple swooshed past. Max was so surprised by it that he stumbled, and tripped again. The figure, seeing what had happened, slowed herself and glided towards him, coming to a stop.

“Sorry about that. Are you okay?”

Max looked up. “Yeah, I’m fine thanks… wait, Nerris!?”

“Max!?” Nerris exclaimed. “I didn’t know you skated!” she said, reaching out a hand, and helping him up.

“I don’t.” Max replied. “David just thought it’d be a nice thing to do.”

“David? But I thought your parents were…” Nerris twigged what had happened. “Did David adopt you?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to dwell on that, so…”

“Point taken.” Nerris cheerfully replied. “It’s nice to know you’re in a better place.”

“So what brings you here? I thought you liked D&D and sorcery, or whatever.” Max asked.

“I ice skate as well, remember that day when it snowed at camp?” Nerris reminded.

“Yeah, and then Ered did a body-check on you. That was a weird day.” 

“Yeah. It was.” Nerris’ face fell. “At least we both made friends afterwards. Come on, why don’t we skate for a bit?” she asked, smiling again.

“I’m not very good at skating.” Max replied.

“That’s ok. You can hold my hand to keep your balance.” Nerris replied, offering her hand. Max took hold of it tentatively, as she took of slowly, with him in tow. Max pushed out as he skated, slowly getting acquainted with the feel of his skates on the ice. Max pushed out a little more, and his leg slipped, but Nerris reached out her other hand and caught him before he could fall.

“I’ve got you Max, don’t worry.” Nerris offered calm words of encouragement. Nerris was now skating backwards with Max holding on to her for dear life, keen not to embarrass himself by falling again. Max let go of her as he regained his balance and composure. The music playing on the speakers was neither inspiring to Max nor Nerris, at least until the music stopped. 

“What’s going on with the music?” Max asked.

“I don’t know.” Nerris wondered. “Maybe they’re going to play something classical. It’d be nice if they did.” She hoped. The sound of a flute slowly rung out on the speakers.  
“Oh, I think that’s the Boléro.” Nerris guessed. 

“What’s that?” Max asked. 

“It’s a piece of music. It’s famous for when two British people danced to it in the Olympics and won the gold.” Nerris explained concisely, as she began to skate. “Watch me go.” Nerris confidently glided on the ice, turning and accelerating with ease, with an additional twist and a jump to boot. Nerris received applause from her parents, who were standing on the sidelines with David. Max was mesmerized at her ability, and skated along behind her, giving her plenty of room for jumps and spins. Nerris’ parents smiled proudly as she glided past them. 

“I didn’t know Nerris could Ice Skate.” David commented to them.

“You run a summer camp. We wouldn’t have expected you to.” Nerris’ Mom replied. “Max learns quickly for someone who’s never ice skated before.” She complimented.

“Yeah.” David replied, refocusing his attention to Max, who, now that he had found a rhythm to his skating and wasn’t looking down at the ice, was staying on his feet. He wasn’t traveling as fast as Nerris was, but he was holding his own, which Nerris was impressed by as she looked back at him. The music elevated into a crescendo, with Nerris performing a double axel, landing perfectly. Everyone that had seen it clapped, which made Nerris blush. 

“Thank you.” Nerris spoke quietly, as she slowed. Max caught up to her, and not knowing how to stop, almost crashed into Nerris, but instead he grabbed on to the wall on the side of the rink. 

“You learn quickly, Max.” she complimented. 

“Are you sure about that?” Max leaned back against the wall. "I almost crashed into you."

“You didn’t fall over even once whilst you were following behind me.” Nerris pointed out. Max looked down at his feet.

“I didn’t. I uh, wasn’t really thinking about where my feet were.” He looked back up at Nerris.

“No. you just skated. It’s like when you learn to ride a bike, once you get it, it becomes natural to you. She replied.

“I got into a rhythm, I guess.” Max responded. “That tends to happen when I do my tap dancing.”

“Me too!” Nerris exclaimed with a smile. Max hoisted himself up on the wall, and Nerris joined him.

“Do you practice often?” Max asked.

“Of course, although it's easier now that this place is open. I’m sure you practice your tap dancing just as much.” Nerris replied.

“I go to a tap dancing class after school once a week.” Max admitted, not exactly proud of his talent. Nerris noticed his expression and changed the subject.

“So, you got anything planned for Christmas?” she asked.

“Neil and Nikki are coming round to our place for a party, with games and food and other shit. It’s gonna be fun. How about you?” 

“Harrison and I are going to watch Preston at the theatre. Apparently he managed to find himself a role there.” Nerris answered.

“Him?” Max asked. 

“Yeah. Apparently the director was very impressed. After that, we’ll have dinner at Preston’s.” Nerris continued. Nerris looked around her, and noticed that both David and her parents had made their way onto the ice.

“Shall we make our way over to them?” Nerris asked Max as she hopped off the wall. 

“Sitting up here by myself would be pretty boring.” Max replied, tentatively shuffling his skates onto the ice until he found his rhythm again, whereupon he joined Nerris and the adults in a makeshift circle. 

“Hi Mom. Hi Dad.” Nerris smiled at them. 

“That was some great skating you did there.” Her dad praised. “You wanna play some Dungeons and Dragons when we get home?”

“You already know the answer to that.” Nerris chuckled. 

“I’ll join in too!” Her mom added. 

“Bye Max!” Nerris waved. “Merry Christmas!” The three of them left the ice rink, leaving David and Max on their own. 

“You doing any skating yourself?” Max asked, noticing David had spent the entire time chatting with Nerris’ Parents. 

“I might as well.” David accepted. He tried to push forward to gain some extra speed, but his legs got crossed up, causing him to twist and fall flat on his backside. Max slowly glided over.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not too bad, just a bit sore.” David replied. “I wouldn’t mind going home for some hot drinks, though.”

“If we go now, I can make it for you.” Max offered, keen to get off the ice. 

“Alright then.” David replied. “Let’s go home.” and the two of them left the ice rink also.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you! Feel free to Comment and Give Feedback!
> 
> I also have a Tumblr: https://stereochromatic404.tumblr.com/


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